Glossodia
(from glossa, a tongue, and eidos, like; alluding to the tongue-like appendage within the flower). ORD. Orchideoe. A genus comprising about four species of greenhouse terrestrial orchids, limited to Australia. Flowers purple or blue, erect, one or two on an erect scape, leafless except an empty sheathing bract at or below the middle, and a similar one under each pedicel; lip sessile, undivided, not fringed. Leaf solitary, oblong or lanceolate, from within a scarious sheath close to the ground. Glossodias thrive in sandy loam and peat, and require but little water when in a dormant state. Propagated by division.
G. major (larger). fl. blue; sepals and petals oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, not blotched; lip ovate, broad, biconvex and pubescent with white hairs in the lower half, upper half lanceolate, blue and glabrous. June. l. oblong or lanceolate, 1in. to 2in. long. Tuber ovoid. 1810. SYN. Caladenia major. G. minor (smaller). fl. blue; sepals and petals oblong-lanceolate; lip about one-third the length of the sepals, broad, biconvex and pubescent in the lower half, the spreading upper half triangular, acute, flat, glabrous, June. l. lanceolate, the small sheathing bract usually green. 1810. SYN. Caladenia minor.